


burning love

by Kharasma



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-16
Updated: 2014-10-16
Packaged: 2018-02-21 11:19:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2466341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kharasma/pseuds/Kharasma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Romances like the stories don't really exist, do they? An argument has a resolution that surprises the participants...but perhaps it was inevitable after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	burning love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlexSeanchai (EllieMurasaki)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieMurasaki/gifts).



> I've loved this pairing forever, but I never fully understood why, so writing this and getting to know Rei and Minako again was a real pleasure. I'm not sure I succeeded in communicating everything I wanted to about my love for the girls and their love for each other, but I hope I got at least some of it across!
> 
> I hope you enjoy.

Once again, the local bookstore was slammed with its weekly blond whirlwind, known to their friends as Usagi and Minako. Once again, Ami almost allowed herself to hope that the girls would pick up books that would actually help their grades. But once again, what tumbled out onto Rei’s table was not equations, not historical facts, but the latest issues of the most popular romantic comic books. Rei didn’t bother trying to hide her sigh of exasperation---this was all part of the Thursday study group package, but she didn’t have to like it.

It took some effort to drag the comics out of their fantasy books and into a math textbook, but after Makoto offered an irresistible strawberry cake as a bribe, the studying went on as scheduled. Ami checked off point after point on her study guide as they worked, and all seemed to be going well. Rei still needed to slap Usagi’s hands away from the comic pile once or twice, but they managed to get through a whole geometry unit, surprisingly enough! As a reward, the group received a delectable dessert and had the chance to discuss the week‘s manga.

”Isn‘t it the most romantic thing you‘ve ever seen?” Minako gushed, holding up one of the books for all to see. Against the night sky, a hero and heroine sat alone under the moonlight. The woman knelt on the bench, hovering over the man. His fingers interlocked with hers, while his free hand combed through her long curls. Her hand delicately touched his lips with a finger. The image was drawn delicately, reflecting the fragility of new love.

“Nope, Mamo-chan’s always the most romantic! But I’ll give these two second place,” Usagi nodded, the gears already turning in her head.

“She’s definitely going to show him a good time,” Makoto agreed, setting down her cake slice to take a closer look. “Next week’ll be an awesome chapter, right Ami?” she teased, elbowing her friend in the ribs.

“Ah---well, yes, I suppose so,” she said in a rush, quickly hiding her face behind her notebook. “But let’s save some of that intensity for our studies, right girls?”

“Don’t be a buzzkill, Ami!” Minako yelped. “Look at their pure feelings. Doesn’t it make your heart melt? Just think: someday, that could be you!”

“...no, I really don’t think so,” Ami whispered, still refusing to peek out from behind the notebook.

“Aww, don’t give up! You’ll find the right guy, and it’ll be great.”

Rei frowned over her tea cup, not touching the cake. It bothered her that Minako always seemed to get carried away when love was the topic of discussion. Yes, she was the goddess of love, but this spacing out couldn’t go on. Their lives were set in stone: protect Usagi for a thousand years more. And they loved her, and she loved them, and that was the greatest love of all. They all had the same command: Minako was painting a fantasy that couldn’t happen.

“Minako,” Rei’s eyes narrowed just a little as an emotion she didn’t want to name crossed her mind, “don’t these books ever bore you? Real life’s nothing like these pictures at all.”

“What are you talking about? Of course it’s like that! Mamo-chan’s way better than this guy, it’s not even close,” Usagi butted in, already drifting back into a daydream about Tuxedo Mask.

“...well, yes. You have Mamoru, but that’s because you’re Usagi,” Rei had to concede with the slightest smile. “But the chances of finding a man like that are one in a million. The rest of us won’t be swept away by grand romances. It’s a waste of time to dream about someone you haven’t met, when you could be chasing your own dreams.”

The energy in the room took a definite dark turn, almost as though the enemy was present among their ranks. The other girls exchanged uneasy looks, until Makoto finally broke the silence. “Aww, it’s just a story. It’s harmless. And it’s kind of fun to dream, you know?”

Ami said nothing, but she made a soft noise of agreement.

“But all that silliness is just a distraction. Why not read about something useful, something that’ll make your life better?” Rei asked. It sounded hard and cold, but if they listened closely, there was something like regret lingering in her voice. 

“You’re wrong,” Minako argued, but her voice was surprisingly soft as her eyes locked with Rei’s. Now it was getting personal. “Maybe life’s not always like the stories, and maybe not everyone can kiss under the stars. But true love is precious. It’s rare. But I know it’s real for sure!” she swore, clutching at the tie on her school uniform. “And it’s our duty as Sailor Guardians to defend it, isn’t it?”

“Sure is!” Usagi cheered, launching herself at Minako and joyfully throwing an arm around her shoulders. “That’s our job. To find and protect love. And you’re the best at it, Minako-chan!”

Minako answered with an indulgent smile and a playful shove at Usagi, and it seemed that the moment of tension had passed. Soon, the discussions turned back to Makoto’s delicious cake---the girls agreed that she’d outdone herself again---and toward their plans for the next day. But Minako was the last to leave the shrine that evening, lingering at the top of the steps.

“Unless you want to join me for prayer at dawn, I suggest you go home. You need sleep,” Rei said, poking her broom at Minako’s feet insistently. Minako remained still, though, and in the starlight, Rei caught a glimpse of the lines around Minako’s eyes. She looked far older, stirring an ancient memory that Rei couldn’t quite grasp.

“No way! I’ll leave the lack of beauty sleep to you,” Minako teased, lifting a placating hand. “I just wanted to talk to you. About earlier.”

“Earlier...?” Rei asked, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. She had a vague idea of where this was going, and she didn’t like it.

“What’s the deal with all that stuff you said about love? Do you really think it’s a waste of time? Because as the official representation of the goddess of love, I’ve got a bone to pick with you if you do,” Minako said playfully, but her eyes were just serious enough to show that this wasn’t just a game.

Rei felt irritation swell up inside her. Minako never could leave anything alone, could she? But Rei carefully concealed her thoughts with a thin smile. “We both know that Serenity and Endymion finally deserve their happiness,” she said wistfully.

“Usagi and Mamoru are really something special,” Minako agreed with a firm nod. “But you know what I meant. Do you really think the rest of us can’t love?”

“You know it’s impossible, Minako,” Rei said. “Mamoru can protect himself. Any man we loved would be in danger every moment, and aside from that, they’d be a distraction from our duty. Usagi is the only one we love---we swore on that an eternity ago.”

“Right, we did.” Minako could never forget. They could never love another before her---and Usagi’s love was worth more than anything in the world, but what if they could have more? 

“I know, Rei. And I’ve always chosen her too. But the funny thing is, Usagi doesn’t seem to think we need to cut ourselves off from romance. When we go to the comic shop, every week, she points out cute guys that I should ask out.”

For some reason, that just upset Rei further. “She’s just being her usual self---ridiculous, but lovable. You know Usagi’s better at that than anyone. But we can’t forget: when the time comes, we can’t be attached to anyone else. Our only priority is protecting her.”

“But I don’t think that’s what she wants for us, Rei,” Minako shook her head. Rei was stubborn to a fault---but those cold eyes just kept drawing her further in. Minako knew she couldn’t give up on this.

“You’re letting those comics eat your brain,” Rei scoffed. “We have our true love. It’s Usagi. Anything else---romance, passion---it’s a foolish fantasy.”

Much to Rei’s surprise, Minako nodded. Was she finally going to back off? Unfortunately for Rei, there was now a new glimmer in her friend’s eye. She was off to try something else. “There we go! So, okay. Romance just a fantasy. But...hypocritically speaking...”

“Hypothetically speaking,” Rei corrected.

“Right, right. Hypo-thetically. If you could fall in love, what kind of guy would you want, Rei?”

“Didn’t we just establish this is a waste of time?”

“What else are you going to do tonight, Rei? Your next prayer’s at dawn.”

“As you said before, beauty sleep is important. I might turn into a hag if I forget about it,” Rei said flatly.

“Oh no, not that! But...ah, I don’t think you ever have to worry about becoming a hag, Rei,” Minako said slyly. No, not Rei---she‘d never not be gorgeous. Wait, was she supposed to be thinking about that?

What was she saying? Rei had a thought that made her chest feel tight, but she promptly dismissed it. It couldn’t be. “I’m off to bed.”

But Minako wouldn‘t give up that easily. She launched forward, emboldened enough by now to grab Rei‘s wrist. “I won’t let you ‘til you tell me what you like!”

“Oh, all right!” Rei finally exploded, yanking on her wrist to snatch it back. Minako was coming way too close. Why did she have to know these things? Would she think it was freakish? Should she even say anything at all? Rei seriously considered taking a vow of silence then and there, but Minako was still holding her wrist. She wouldn’t let this go. There would be no escape.

“IF I were to fall in love, do you know what would happen, Minako? Whoever I loved would be mine and mine alone. I’m a very selfish person, actually.”

“You, selfish?” Minako laughed, waving a dismissive hand. That wasn’t like Rei at all. Not the Rei she knew so well, who despite her standoffish tendencies, would always give anything to help them out. A place to study, a carefully aimed flaming arrow, a quiet sanctuary. Rei would never leave them. Ever.

“It’s not what I am all the time, Minako. But if I ever allowed myself to love, I’d burn someone,” Rei whispered, casting her eyes to the ground. She feared the distance could only grow, but Minako’s shoes edged into view as her friend still stepped closer.

“You’re not actually talking about burning someone up, are you?” Minako asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. She knew in her heart what Rei meant...but she had to ask to keep Rei guessing, because as Rei allowed those pent-up feelings into her voice, Minako could feel something familiar stirring inside her too. To see Rei this vulnerable made her long to reach out...so that’s exactly what she did, her hand slipping downward to loosely hold Rei’s.

“No, Minako. How could I enjoy kissing them if their lips were burned away?” Rei tried to joke. But when it was phrased like that, Minako definitely noticed the way Rei’s eyes flicked across her face. “I’d embrace them forever.”

Those words were so warm and familiar that Minako felt her heart flip. Spoken like a true romantic. “It sounds like you’re a natural at love,” she confessed softly. “So why not give it a try, Rei-chan?”

When their eyes met again, Rei’s were burning with the passion she always hid. “Because I’m the scary shrine maiden. I’m too intense, they say. And in love, wouldn’t that be even worse? They wouldn’t last a day.”

“So you really think no one would want to feel your love? No one could handle it? My, you’re confident,” Minako teased gently, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Oh, Rei was looking more and more lovely every second. Minako felt the possibilities stretching out in front of her endlessly.

“It’s not confidence, Minako,” Rei admitted, her voice hitching on her friend’s name. “It’s a fact. They’d come to hate me.”

“No---no one who’s worthy of your love would think that,” Minako promised. She slipped forward with all the grace of a princess, invading Rei’s personal space again. But this time, the gleam in Minako’s blue eyes was brighter than a star---and fixed squarely on Rei. “And I still need to take you down a peg. If you think you can love more passionately than the goddess of love, then I might just have to teach you a lesson.”

Rei was clearly taken aback, finally pulling her hand back and making a vain effort to re-establish distance. “Are you proposing a contest? If you want to play a game like that, ask Makoto---”

“But I don’t want to ask her,” Minako shook her head, reaching up to tuck one of Rei’s strands of hair behind her ear. Surely this would make her intentions clear. “Because I’ve already got this whole problem solved.”

“...what? Minako---”

Before Rei could finish, Minako’s wayward hand slipped up the back of Rei’s head and curled into her silky hair. Her blue eyes glimmered with hope and love, but they only shone for a second before they closed. And not even a moment later, her lips staked their first claim on Rei’s.

Rei went rigid with shock for a moment, her hands hanging limply at her sides and her mouth locked into a thin line. Surely this couldn’t be reality. But the moment Minako redoubled her grip on Rei’s hand, linked as they were meant to be, millenia of pent-up desire burst into flame.

With reflexes she usually reserved for battle, Rei’s arm seized Minako’s waist and held it tight, fingers gripping the back of her shirt. She squeezed their linked hands almost tightly enough to bruise. And as for their kiss? Rei wasn’t about to accept second place in passion. 

Rei’s feet almost moved of their own accord as she guided them across the shrine’s courtyard, her lips sealed with Minako’s the whole way. The pressure varied---there were soft kisses of gratitude, experimental shifting kisses, and of course, kisses so intense that Minako could almost feel the burn on her lips. This felt so completely right that stopping was never an option.

When they reached Rei’s favorite courtyard bench, she used her feet and the arm on Minako’s waist to guide her into a sitting position. Minako responded in kind, her arm now fully encircling Rei’s shoulders and her fingers dancing across her neck. With the new angle, Minako pushed herself up into the kiss, determined not to lose. For a few moments, it was pure heaven.

But even they couldn’t sustain it forever, so they eventually broke apart, foreheads resting against each other. Rei’s hair fell over Minako’s shoulders like a dark curtain, and her hands shifted up to carefully cup Minako’s lovely face. How could she have ever not seen this?

“You’re sure about this, Minako? Because this is your last chance to back out.” It pained Rei to say it, to even think about the possibility of this never happening again. But she could stand aside if necessary---she’d done it all her life.

“You know I don’t do anything half-way, Rei-chan,” Minako smirked, a lilt of affection in the nickname. “And...hey, what do you know?” she giggled, pulling back enough to take note of their position in the moonlight, lightly prodding Rei’s knee on the bench. “I think those comics invaded your brain too!”

That comment drew Rei’s attention to their position too. Indeed, they looked just like the lovers in Usagi’s favorite comic book. “...they did, didn’t they?” she conceded. “But I’m gonna keep you quiet about this.”

“Oh yeah? How’re you gonna do that? You know I’m a total blabbermouth!”

“Like this,” Rei said simply, eyes sparkling with joy as she pulled her lover into another kiss. Doubt and fear burned away as she lingered in Minako’s embrace, leaving her heart lighter than it had ever been. 

So in the end, Minako thought with a wicked surge of delight, she was right. As always. True love is, was, and forever would be real and worth pursuing. Especially when the goddess of love and the goddess of passion were together.


End file.
